So its been a while since my last post, but I'm back to fill you in with the good news, well sort off.

Theres a reason to be a little happy with the Metropolitans coming off this disatrous road trip.

First, the bad.

The Mets lost their first series after the All- Star venue to the archrival Braves. They didn't put much of a contest as they could only squeeze out one win. The Mets were destroyed and outplayed by the Braves in every way possible, their 11-0 shutout in the second game of the series, reflects this. The Mets hit rock bottom, they can't play any worse, can they?

Then the ugly...

As if losing to the their archnemisis isn't bad enough, losing the Nationals was just plain embarrassing.The Nationals, possiibly the worst team in MLB history, pulled out two wins from the un-Amazin's. The Nationals' pitching looked phenomenal against the powerless-Mets, who couldn't get a homerun to save their lives.

The Mets lost the first encounter against the Astros and after that loss, I guess they were just tired of losing.

The GOOD.

Finally, music to my eyes.

In the second game, the Mets practically won the game in the first inning, inking the scoreboard with 3 runs. There was more to come however. David Wright had his first homerun in what felt like ages for him and the Mets, and only his second since Carlos Beltran's departure to the disabled list. Jeff Francour, who has appeared somewhat consistent in the homerun department, packing three since his arrival to the Mets. Omir Santos also had a role in the fairy tale, racking up a deep shot.

Now for an encore, the Mets decided to give the Astros some confidence by giving them the early lead. THat was shortlived for the Astros however. That three run lead, diminished and faded away as the Mets came to scare them away by scoring eight runs. The Mets took their first series since the All-Star break and can finally go home on a high note.

Lets see if the Mets ride that momentum and prolong this win streak in hopes to lessen that gap in the Wild Card race.

The streaking Phillies are running away with the NL East divison crown, unless they choke .....

Even though the Mets have shown more offensive efficiency with their new assembled lineup, they might have trouble with strike-out machine Ubaldo Jimenez, on the mound tommorow night at Citi Field.

The Mets were headed into this series with a two game winning streak, hoping to accumilate some victories against the rival Phillies.

Boy, did that go wrong.

The most noteable defect the Mets percieve is their lack of offense. They only generated 3 runs during the ENTIRE SERIES. Their pitching hasn't been stellar either.

In the first game of the series, Livan Hernandez gave up seven runs to the World Champs. He never gave the Mets a chance in this game.

The second game signaled the Mets' offense woes, by leaving the pitcher Fernando Nieve to drive in their only run. How is it possible that your starting pitcher is driving in runs, where are the bats?

The only game the Mets probably had a chance to compete in was the final one. Santana was on the mound and took the reigns of this ball club as best he could. He allowed two runs in seven innings and calmed the Phillies' offense.

But the Mets' offense took a rain check, and only showed up for four hits. They were plagued by double plays and unable to hit off Joe Blanton. Even with the cool red Mets hats, the ball club looked as awful as they have during the past few weeks. The vision that any Mets fan would loathe and spite, is the site of getting swept without any contest by the Philadelphia Phillies,

The Mets seem like their heading onto a road to perdition especially against their next opponents. Before the All-Star Break, the Mets have to deal with the best team in MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Mets escaped from the Brewers with one win, leaving the series with a postive note.

Yesterday, Mets tried to make it consecutive wins against the Pirates.

First the weary wait in a rain delay, then the five-run deficeit, and exhaustion, summed to be detrimental factors the Mets had to deal with.

Not only that, when the Mets finally caught up with Pittsburg, K-Rod blew another save to force extra innings.

When the 10th inning finally came, the fortunes of the Mets finallychanged.

With Fernando Tatis on second, Ryan Church lined up a single for the game winning run and made it two wins in row for the Metropolitans.

Mets always seem to suprise us with these out of nowhere victories. This club as hacked and wacked as it's been, has shown much effort and resilence.

Head "Gangsta" Jerry Manuel's speech seemed to of spurred a pleasant reaction, generating two wins. This reslient attiude the Mets are taking on brings some much needed hope, especially heading into the upcoming Phillies series.

The injury toll on the Mets never looked so bad like it did the past few days.

Just about everything went wrong for the Mets. From pitching to hitting, neither was good enough to overcome the Yankees this weekend nor the Brewers yesterday.

In the first game of the series against the Yanks at Citi Field, C.C. Sabathia outplayed Mike Pelfrey and made the Mets’ offense nonexistent. Pelfrey didn’t have much help to his part either, when the Mets’ infield rendered three errors in the second inning that eventually produced four runs for the Yankees. Mets lose 9-1.

The second game wasn’t any better. Pitcher A.J. Burnett pitched lights out and surrendered only one hit. Tim Redding matched A.J. Burnett as best he could, throwing admirably for six innings before blowing the game open and giving the Yankees the second victory in the series.

Losing the first two games, Mets sent Livan Hernandez to salvage whatever was left in the Subway Series. However his letdown in the first inning, proved to be the deciding factor in another Mets loss. Yankee great Mariano Rivera took another step closer to his Hall of Fame career by collecting his 500th save.

Throughout this series, the Mets made it seem that the Yankees were on another level that they simply couldn’t compete with. Even with all the injuries, the Mets for the most part held together for recent weeks. But the team could only hold it for so long. Role players are role players, they can only play at high level for while. This leads to next statement. The absence of Carlos Beltran probably hurt them more then any Met on the disabled list. The Mets desperately need Omar Minaya to make some trades; the team needs an influx of bats. Is that too much to ask? Yankees showed how powerful they can be when they use their money, Mets should use theirs.

The game yesterday against Milwaukee didn’t make things better for the Mets.

Fernando Nieve appeared human yesterday, getting picked apart by the Brewers and losing for the first time this season. Milwaukee manufactured 11 hits on the man, who before this loss was the only undefeated pitcher for the Mets.

Hopefully, our Ace Johan Santana gives us some relief tonight against the Brewers.

The aces duel between Mets Johan Santana and Cardinals Chris Carpenter was a perfect finale for this series.

Mets won the first and third game of the matchup, and needed to take this one to claim the series.

Johan allowed one run in the first inning, giving the Cardinals the upper hand. While, Chris Carpenter pitched marvelously and looked unstoppable for the first three innings. However, the fourth inning, gave a different tale.

As the game went along, Santana grew stronger by surrendering just one more run during his tenure. On the other hand, Carpenter blew the game up in the fourth inning, giving up a double by 1B Nick Evans, which consequently tallied in three runs for the Metropolitans.

Starting pitching for the Mets has been their bread and butter the past few weeks and really the only factor that has reeled them in competing against other ball clubs. Redding on Monday threw decently, Fernando Nieve has been nothing less then outstanding in his efforts, Santana is Santana, and even Livan Hernandez who gave up the only loss, pitched fairly well.

Mets offense saw improvement this series, more evidently in their 11-0 thrashing against the Cardinals.

What I found to be most hopeful sign, was the bullpen who didn’t lose any games for the Mets, and appeared solid against the St. Louis Cardinals.

These victories against a powerful team like the Cardinals can raise the confidence of this wacked and injured team, who never made excuses and never gave up. That sounds a bit corny but otherwise true; the effort of this ball club has always been there, persistent through thin and thick.

Mets beat the Cardinals, won the series and put themselves in great shape heading into the Subway Series.

The Mets are now only a half game behind the Phillies for the NL East lead and could take it with a win against the Yankees.

Round 2 of the Subway Series is on tonight at 7 p.m. at Citi Field, rendering a Sabathia and Pelfrey pitching

The Mets-Cardinals matchup was deemed to be a lopsided one in favor of the Cardinals, because of the recent Mets’ mishaps. Well watching the game last night, not so much.

In the first game of the series that aired on ESPN, Pitcher Tim Redding finally got his first victory as a Met allowing 4 runs on 5 hits. Mets beat the Red Birds 6-4.

After the Mets played admirably great, they underwent an offense lapse the next game by only recording TWO hits the entire game. Cardinals silence the Metropolitans 3-0.

Just when things were looking bleak against the NL Central leading Cardinals, Mets pull out a more then impressive victory against the Red Birds.

Let’s start with the real hero of the game, Pitcher Fernando Nieve, who threw nothing short of tremendous performance, left the power house Cardinals’ lineup at zilch. Fernando Nieve is showing the baseball world he can compete in the big leagues by winning his first three starts with an outstanding 1.45 ERA. However, even with all of his success, his spot on the future of the starting pitching rotation may still be in question.

To ensure the victory, the Mets offense lived up to its potential. Mets are one of the worst homerun hitting teams in the MLB, bottom three to give you an idea. Now, how can a team win without the luxury of the homerun? By being the best hitting team in the MLB. Mets have a .290 batting average and hold the league’s top spot in that department entering last night’s game.

Mets demonstrated their hitting finesse by destroying Cardinals pitching last night, using their bats to produce eleven runs on sixteen hits. David Wright had four hits and is solidifying his position for the All-Star Game. Not only did the Mets offense produce, but manufactured more then enough runs to prevent the bullpen from blowing any saves. No stress for once.

The depleted Mets defied the odds again, taming the Cardinals with an 11-0 shutout victory.

By the way, the Mets are only a game and a half back from NL East leading Phillies.

Ace Johan Santana is set up to deliver the killing blow on the Cardinals at 7 p.m.

On a generally clear, Friday evening, Mets pummeled the Ray 5-3. Pitcher Fernando Nieve once again showed why he belongs in the majors, shutting down Tampa Bay to only one run on three hits.

By Saturday and Sunday, rain clouds made their stop at Citi Field.

Even after the resurgence of Johan Santana, redeeming himself from his last disatrous performance, wasn't enough to stop Tampa's offense. Mets' offense on the other hand, did their dissapearing act again... Mets lose 3-1.

With Mike Pelfrey on the mound, their offense was the least of their problems. Pelfrey allowed four runs and gave no shot for a Mets victory yesterday.

Overall same problems exist for the Mets, and continue the win one, lose two trend.

Regardless of the Mets' performance the past few weeks, winning 4 out of their last 12 games, they are only 2 games behind the Phillies for the NL EAST lead and 2 1/2 games back for a Wild Card spot.

New York Mets still can't get over that hump, or pitching efficiently for an ENTIRE game.

Coming of a demolishing loss to the hated Yankees, Mets wanted to put that all behind them by facing yet another AL East resident, the Baltimore Orioles.

In the first game of three game series, Mets beat the Orioles 6-4. Although K-rod looked pretty shaky, he got the save here and secured the Mets win.

After that, everything appeared to go backwards for the Metropolitans.

Mets lost against the Orioles the following night with an impotent offense. If their offense isn't the problem, then it’s their bullpen. That’s been the pattern for the last couple of weeks.

Last night the Mets had offense, just no bullpen. Thanks to K-Rod’s second blown save of the season, Mets added another loss to the stat sheets. Closer Francisco Rodriguez almost blew the save Tuesday, but yesterday actually committing the mortal sin of giving up your teams hard earned lead. This loss hurts, especially considering the Mets’ lack of offensive prowess.

Don’t worry there’s always silver lining, due to his consistency at the mound, pitcher Livan Hernandez is emerging as the Mets’ third most reliable starter after Santana and Pelffrey, throwing seven innings and giving up two runs in a loss that should of easily been a win.

AS if they couldn’t get enough of the AL East, Mets play the AL Champions Tampa Bay Rays. This series is loaded up to be a tough one for the Mets. If their pitching lasts and offense exists, Mets might have the tools to capture a few wins against the Rays. This is the type of series that can ultimately catapult the Mets into a win streak, and raise the morale of this wounded ball club.

Tonight for an encore performance, Pitcher Fernando Nieve will take on the Tampa Bay Rays at 7 p.m.

As much as this pains me to say, the Mets looked powerless against the Yankees in Round 3 of the Subway Series. We simply had no answer... 15-0.

Ace Johan Santana, without a doubt, ptiched his worst game of the season. Allowing NINE runs in his start in just four innings. Santana had an off day, it happens. However, this performance might of cost him his third Cy-Young Award...

Yankees had their bat today, their FIFTEEN RUNS had to show for it. They also had a couple more homeruns to add to the new Yankee Stadium.

Mets' offense on the other hand forgot theirs, leaving a big zero on the scoreboard.

Yankees won this series convincingly with this lopsided victory. Congratulations Yanks, you beat a torn-down team with players up and down the roster hurt. Claps sarcastically*

No worries, once these two weeks come around, Mets will be waiting for revenge at CitiField.